Furikake Corner

#29 - Successful Friday, Katsu and a Moment from my Past, Autumn Is Coming - 06/09/2025

Current mood: good! I'm feeling fairly alright id say, given the fact that the past few days have been a little wild. But, wild, in the good way; I passed the interview I had this past friday! It was my introduction to the ways things work with this particular job and it was a group interview, much to my surprise. Through a process of interviewing one another and presenting our findings to the session co-ordinator plus the audience, the group of six was whittled down to two, with myself and another person being the only one remaining. To be honest, there is a part of me that cant help but feel a little bad at the fact that other promising folks were let go from the opportunity, but at the same time im also really stunned at how I managed to make a good impression just from half an hour of being present and doing what was asked of me to the best of my ability. I feel happy with that - all that remains is practicing this pitch for Monday and seeing if I successfully meet the mark for what they're wanting. If I do get this job, then Im going to be looking for a second job as a backup as well, so that the idea is that I can live off of part-time work that I dont dislike or dont get exhausted from. Essentially, I want one part time job, then I want a second so that I can have two jobs I actually enjoy and also earn big bucks from. If I dont pass monday? Sad, but that's fine to be honest, as it's a good learning experience either way. But i'd be lying if I didnt said that after that interview on friday, i felt GOOD. REALLY GOOD. There's this feeling of success that I get from such achievements and it makes me feel really happy, really euphoric, in control of my life and I love it a lot. Want that feeling more.

The katsu I made was great too, on the day! Onions, Spam, Potatoes, Carrots, about 3 and a half curry blocks, plus the fried rice from the previous night, and it was good! Though...id get rid of that fried rice. I didnt make it, and it shows lmao. Who puts onions in fried rice?? That's a question ill ask and probably never get an answer to, which, fine by me. I dont understand the minds of other people. But anyway, was lovely, the katsu I mean. Legitimately soul soothing, and eating it in a bowl is just comforting. I dont know how it exactly works, but leaving it overnight covered up in a fridge somehow makes it taste even better - I wish I knew the exact science behind it since I find it really fascinating, but either way, it literally tasted like comfort. There's such a rich, salty but peppery taste to the katsu and it just feels soothing. When food is creamy enough but thick enough to genuinely slightly sear against your tongue but not hurt it, you just know its good.

It reminds me of something I mentioned in my last blogpost: the first time that I tried chinese food, a story that I want to recount. So, lets set the scene. It's 2016, December, New Years Eve. Myself and my family had been in a homeless unit for what must have been four to three months. This was something that, for the most part, no normal family would end up going through but unfortunately, nothing about my folks are normal lmao and as a result i'd be the one dealing with the chaotic consequences. But anyway - we're four months into staying at this homeless unit, and it's a strange little place: the place is cramped, apartment-like, the floors are a cold concrete with a sheen to them, the lights are dim, the air is stale and it's a miracle that stuff like the shower and the kitchen and the lights actually even work. The place is somehow spacious for a homeless unit room, and yet cramped at the same time. My room is an attic room with a window to the direct outside and when you pop your head above the window, you can see onto the roads outside. I remember it really well - sometimes when it rained or snowed, the droplets of rain would pitter-patter against the glass, or the snow would frost the window. It was actually quite a calm little room that I had, with a kindle tablet and a crt with my old consoles being my main form of entertainment. That or the occasional book. It was a dark little room, with an uncomfortably plastic-textured bed and a double-bed on the other side of the room being unused and becoming a glorified cabinet. But anyway, the place was a home for as much as it was a place to stay; I wouldnt call it home, just a convenient place at the time. December had been an...okay month, I guess. I vaguely recall elements of it, with my time spent in high school and going to the college that I would eventually enroll in for an open day, and deciding that I did want to have a future, that I did want to work towards having a degree and something to do in life. Other than this, I had introduced myself one fateful day to the dothack series! Either on my birthday or a saturday/sunday related to it, I went out to my most local gamestore and I found a copy of the first game, .Hack//Infection, and I fell in love with it; Not only was it so bizarre yet interesting, but it came with an anime movie! And I found myself absolutely hyperfixated on the game, loving every single second of it. So by the time that new years came around, I was loving every second of the game. But, other than that, I spent time with family. I dont recall what lead to it, but the family decided to vote on chinese food to order out. So, we did! And what we got was something like this, if I remember right:

And yknow what? For my hesitations initially, since I was more of a fish and chips guy and pretty fucking dumb lmao, man, it was good! It legitimately fed all of us that night, which helped as it was a cold night. Yet, there was something positive in the air that night, something comforting, and I appreciated it. Additionally, my sisters burned a copy of the second dothack game and surprised me with it, and i PLAYED THAT SHIT INTO THE AM HOURS. GOOD GOD I WAS INVESTED. But spending time with family, chinese food, and having hours to myself of just enjoying such a wonderfully fantastic game, it meant a lot to me. It was a comforting end to the year, after the start to my school year went up in flames once the situation at home imploded and there was a brief stay in my parent's friends's house, then a hotel for about a month or so iirc, then this homeless unit. All the while I buried my feelings about how stressed I was and my grades sank, only for them to rise back up as december came around and I felt like I had a future, that I was hopeful. December came to an end and in just a month's time from then, me and my family finally got a real place to call home again. For a few years, at least. I'll always be appreciative of that month and my time in that unit, chinese food, dothack. Ill admit, with it being nine years since and ten years approaching next year this month, it's been on my mind still - I dont want to ever experience homelessness ever again, especially as an adult. But there's memories from that time that are the reason why I am even still here now, and its why im generally so fond of asian food. It literally saved me, came to me at a time when I needed it. I hope that someday, me cooking that food can be a livesaver to someone else~

Other than this, im just feeling a creeping excitement in me as autumn is beginning to come around. The leaves have already began to turn orange and yellow, the air is colder at night, even now as I write this the temperature has plummeted closer to single digits. There's also how theres more rain and thunderstorms and generally dark nights where it's hard to see out into the distance. Mornings too, my breaths fog up, which is surprising since we're not even at that point yet in autumn - you expect this usually here in the UK around, say, mid-october imo, so it's surprising. But just the fact that things become spookier thematically, just the fact that things will get really seasonal, it makes me happy, so Im looking forward to the fact that cool things are coming. I also got invited, just like last year, to my sisters's halloween party so I cant wait just to dress up like a zombie and have fun, yknow? Hell, watch halloween movies, explore halloween vrchat worlds, celebrate as usual with Deltarune on the big day in October. I am eager to see how my deltarune piece this year looks, yknow?

Time will well how things go~